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Analysing the state of the economy
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Dr Ashfaque H Khan
The government has released the State of the Economy Report for the year 2008-09. The report, commonly known as Pakistan Economic Survey, painted a not so encouraging picture of the economy. It stated that many key macroeconomic targets were missed in 2008-09 and that the economy remained more or less in depressed conditions. For example, economic growth decelerated sharply to a mere 2.0 percent, almost equal to the country's population growth, thus expressing no improvement in the level of prosperity of the people of Pakistan. This year's growth was mainly supported by a reasonably good performance of the agricultural sector which posted an increase of 4.7 percent. The performance of agriculture was neutralised by the contraction of the industrial sector, large-scale manufacturing, in particular. The services sector also exhibited a less-than-satisfactory performance as it grew by only 3.6 percent against last year's achievement of 6.6 percent. The contribution of agriculture to this year's growth has been overwhelming: it contributed a 1.0 percentage point or 50 percent to the year's real GDP growth. A deeper analysis of the contribution of agriculture reveals that wheat and rice crops alone contributed 64 and 14 percent, respectively, to the year's agricultural and real GDP growth.
Large-scale manufacture, accounting for 12 percent of the GDP, instead of growing, has in fact, contracted by 7.7 percent this year. Deterioration in the security environment, political instability, weak external demand, shortages of electricity and higher cost of borrowing have been the major factors responsible for the worst-ever performance of large-scale manufacturing. The services sector also witnessed a sharp decline in growth to a mere 3.6 percentthe slowest growth in the last eight years. The services sector generally follows the overall trend in the economy. If the level of economic activity is brisk the services sector will exhibit strong growth, and vice-versa. The real per-capita income remained almost at last year's level, showing no improvement in the level of well being of the nation.
Critics of the previous regime's economic policies have always argued that Pakistan's economic growth over the last seven or eight years has been primarily a "private consumption-led" growth. They have also argued that no or little effort was made to curtail the consumption demand of the private sector. In other words, the monetary policy was not tight enough to discourage "private consumption-led" growth. Interestingly, this year's growth has entirely been "private-sector-consumption-led" despite a tight monetary policy of an aggressive nature that was pursued throughout the year. How the critics of the previous regime would respond to this year's growth performance is yet to be seen.
Another important development of this year has been the sharp decline in investment rate. Total investment in terms of GDP percentage was at its peak in 2006-07 and stood at 22.5 percent. It continued to decelerate to 22 percent last year and witnessed a sharp decline to 19.7 percent this year. The deteriorating security environment, poor economic governance, higher cost of borrowing, weak external demand, shortages of power and resource constraints have been the major factors responsible for the sharp decline in investment rate this year. It will take a much longer time to restore investors' confidence, for which improvements in these factors will be essential.
Persistence of higher inflation throughout the year has remained one of the disturbing features of the economy. The inflation rate, as measured by changes in the consumer price index (CPI), averaged 22.4 percent in the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year, as against 10.2 percent in the same period last year. Factors that have mainly been responsible for the persistence of higher inflation in Pakistan are reckless increase in the support price of wheat and sugarcane, sharp depreciation of the exchange rate and market forces not being allowed to play their roles in adjustment of price level. Inflation in Pakistan in 2008-09 has been "government-induced." Empirical evidence shows that support price of wheat is highly inflationary in Pakistan. The wheat support price was raised by 124 percent in only in two years, that is, from Rs425/40kg in 2006-07 to Rs950/40kg in 2008-09. Wheat production, however, did not increase during these two yearswheat production was 23.3 million tones in 2006-07 and was 23.4 million tones in 2008-09. Despite wheat prices being more than doubled in two years the output did not increase appreciably. But in the process, the government created enormous difficulties for the economy as average inflation remained over 22 percent in 2008-09, which forced the State Bank to keep the discount rate at a very high level, thus affecting investment and growth. This is a lesson that the government should learn, and never repeat the mistake. The government should concentrate more on enhancing yield, rather on prices.
Another disturbing development of this year has been the sharp increase in public debt. Public debt increased by Rs1,367 billion in just nine months of this fiscal year (July-March). Over the last two years, public debt has registered an increase of Rs2,454 billion as against the cumulative increase of Rs1,800 billion in the previous eight years. The unprecedented surge in public debt in the current fiscal year owes mainly to the $3.1 billion accumulation of the external debt and the over 20 percent depreciation of the rupee. Avoiding reckless borrowing and maintaining stability in the exchange rate will go a long way in achieving debt sustainability.
Notwithstanding the negative developments, some major improvements in key macroeconomic indicators have also been witnessed in the current fiscal year. The government succeeded in maintaining financial discipline as budget deficit reduced sharply to 4.3 percent of GDP from 7.4 percent last year. In external accounts, the current account deficit narrowed to 5.3 percent of GDP from as high as 8.5 percent last year. Such a sharp improvement in "twin deficits" in just one year is not a mean achievement, and the government should be commended for maintaining financial discipline. The inflows of workers' remittances remained strong during the year, standing at $6.35 billion in the first ten months (July-April), against $5.3 billion last year, thus posting an increase of 19.5 percent. The sharp increase in workers' remittances has contributed significantly to the reduction of the current account deficit. The general perception about the surge in workers' remittances is that Pakistani workers who have lost their jobs in oil-rich countries are coming back with their savings. Workers' remittances are, therefore, expected to decline next year. Another positive development of the year has been the modest inflow of foreign direct investment in the face of global economic meltdown. Pakistan succeeded in attracting $3.2 billion in FDI as against $3.7 billion last yeara loss of just $0.5 billion in a global economic meltdown environment is still a great success.
This years' economic performance must be evaluated in the backdrop of many external and domestic shocks of extraordinary proportion. The crisis in global economy that began to be felt in 2007 and early 2008, aggravated, and started impacting developing countries like Pakistan adversely around October/November 2008. On the domestic scene, the deterioration in the security environment as a result of the intensification of the war on terror, political uncertainty, particularly in the wake of the exit of one of the major coalition partner of the government, the issue of the restoration of the judges of the superior court, including the chief justice, the high cost of borrowing, the massive shortfall in power supplies in the wake of growing circular debt issue and the frequent changes in the ministry of finance surely played important roles in shaping the developments on the economic scene in Pakistan during the current fiscal year. In the midst of these developments the performance of the economy can be described as mixed. While the performance of some key macro variables improved, many others witnessed deterioration as well.
Going forward, Pakistan still faces the challenges of higher budget and current-account deficits and a stubbornly high inflation. There is no room for complacency. The government should not lose its patience so soon. The patient has just come out of the intensive-care unit and shifted to the general ward. Don't force the patient to run now. The government should continue to pursue tight fiscal and monetary policies for one more year. The idea is to consolidate the gains made in the current fiscal year. There will be plenty of resources available to the government for spending in the remaining three budgets. If the government loses patience and undertakes an expansionary fiscal policy the chances of having resources available in the remaining three budgets will be slim. This is the choice the government will have to make in the forthcoming budget.
The writer is dean and professor at the NUST Business School, Islamabad.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Dr Ashfaque H Khan
The government has released the State of the Economy Report for the year 2008-09. The report, commonly known as Pakistan Economic Survey, painted a not so encouraging picture of the economy. It stated that many key macroeconomic targets were missed in 2008-09 and that the economy remained more or less in depressed conditions. For example, economic growth decelerated sharply to a mere 2.0 percent, almost equal to the country's population growth, thus expressing no improvement in the level of prosperity of the people of Pakistan. This year's growth was mainly supported by a reasonably good performance of the agricultural sector which posted an increase of 4.7 percent. The performance of agriculture was neutralised by the contraction of the industrial sector, large-scale manufacturing, in particular. The services sector also exhibited a less-than-satisfactory performance as it grew by only 3.6 percent against last year's achievement of 6.6 percent. The contribution of agriculture to this year's growth has been overwhelming: it contributed a 1.0 percentage point or 50 percent to the year's real GDP growth. A deeper analysis of the contribution of agriculture reveals that wheat and rice crops alone contributed 64 and 14 percent, respectively, to the year's agricultural and real GDP growth.
Large-scale manufacture, accounting for 12 percent of the GDP, instead of growing, has in fact, contracted by 7.7 percent this year. Deterioration in the security environment, political instability, weak external demand, shortages of electricity and higher cost of borrowing have been the major factors responsible for the worst-ever performance of large-scale manufacturing. The services sector also witnessed a sharp decline in growth to a mere 3.6 percentthe slowest growth in the last eight years. The services sector generally follows the overall trend in the economy. If the level of economic activity is brisk the services sector will exhibit strong growth, and vice-versa. The real per-capita income remained almost at last year's level, showing no improvement in the level of well being of the nation.
Critics of the previous regime's economic policies have always argued that Pakistan's economic growth over the last seven or eight years has been primarily a "private consumption-led" growth. They have also argued that no or little effort was made to curtail the consumption demand of the private sector. In other words, the monetary policy was not tight enough to discourage "private consumption-led" growth. Interestingly, this year's growth has entirely been "private-sector-consumption-led" despite a tight monetary policy of an aggressive nature that was pursued throughout the year. How the critics of the previous regime would respond to this year's growth performance is yet to be seen.
Another important development of this year has been the sharp decline in investment rate. Total investment in terms of GDP percentage was at its peak in 2006-07 and stood at 22.5 percent. It continued to decelerate to 22 percent last year and witnessed a sharp decline to 19.7 percent this year. The deteriorating security environment, poor economic governance, higher cost of borrowing, weak external demand, shortages of power and resource constraints have been the major factors responsible for the sharp decline in investment rate this year. It will take a much longer time to restore investors' confidence, for which improvements in these factors will be essential.
Persistence of higher inflation throughout the year has remained one of the disturbing features of the economy. The inflation rate, as measured by changes in the consumer price index (CPI), averaged 22.4 percent in the first ten months (July-April) of the current fiscal year, as against 10.2 percent in the same period last year. Factors that have mainly been responsible for the persistence of higher inflation in Pakistan are reckless increase in the support price of wheat and sugarcane, sharp depreciation of the exchange rate and market forces not being allowed to play their roles in adjustment of price level. Inflation in Pakistan in 2008-09 has been "government-induced." Empirical evidence shows that support price of wheat is highly inflationary in Pakistan. The wheat support price was raised by 124 percent in only in two years, that is, from Rs425/40kg in 2006-07 to Rs950/40kg in 2008-09. Wheat production, however, did not increase during these two yearswheat production was 23.3 million tones in 2006-07 and was 23.4 million tones in 2008-09. Despite wheat prices being more than doubled in two years the output did not increase appreciably. But in the process, the government created enormous difficulties for the economy as average inflation remained over 22 percent in 2008-09, which forced the State Bank to keep the discount rate at a very high level, thus affecting investment and growth. This is a lesson that the government should learn, and never repeat the mistake. The government should concentrate more on enhancing yield, rather on prices.
Another disturbing development of this year has been the sharp increase in public debt. Public debt increased by Rs1,367 billion in just nine months of this fiscal year (July-March). Over the last two years, public debt has registered an increase of Rs2,454 billion as against the cumulative increase of Rs1,800 billion in the previous eight years. The unprecedented surge in public debt in the current fiscal year owes mainly to the $3.1 billion accumulation of the external debt and the over 20 percent depreciation of the rupee. Avoiding reckless borrowing and maintaining stability in the exchange rate will go a long way in achieving debt sustainability.
Notwithstanding the negative developments, some major improvements in key macroeconomic indicators have also been witnessed in the current fiscal year. The government succeeded in maintaining financial discipline as budget deficit reduced sharply to 4.3 percent of GDP from 7.4 percent last year. In external accounts, the current account deficit narrowed to 5.3 percent of GDP from as high as 8.5 percent last year. Such a sharp improvement in "twin deficits" in just one year is not a mean achievement, and the government should be commended for maintaining financial discipline. The inflows of workers' remittances remained strong during the year, standing at $6.35 billion in the first ten months (July-April), against $5.3 billion last year, thus posting an increase of 19.5 percent. The sharp increase in workers' remittances has contributed significantly to the reduction of the current account deficit. The general perception about the surge in workers' remittances is that Pakistani workers who have lost their jobs in oil-rich countries are coming back with their savings. Workers' remittances are, therefore, expected to decline next year. Another positive development of the year has been the modest inflow of foreign direct investment in the face of global economic meltdown. Pakistan succeeded in attracting $3.2 billion in FDI as against $3.7 billion last yeara loss of just $0.5 billion in a global economic meltdown environment is still a great success.
This years' economic performance must be evaluated in the backdrop of many external and domestic shocks of extraordinary proportion. The crisis in global economy that began to be felt in 2007 and early 2008, aggravated, and started impacting developing countries like Pakistan adversely around October/November 2008. On the domestic scene, the deterioration in the security environment as a result of the intensification of the war on terror, political uncertainty, particularly in the wake of the exit of one of the major coalition partner of the government, the issue of the restoration of the judges of the superior court, including the chief justice, the high cost of borrowing, the massive shortfall in power supplies in the wake of growing circular debt issue and the frequent changes in the ministry of finance surely played important roles in shaping the developments on the economic scene in Pakistan during the current fiscal year. In the midst of these developments the performance of the economy can be described as mixed. While the performance of some key macro variables improved, many others witnessed deterioration as well.
Going forward, Pakistan still faces the challenges of higher budget and current-account deficits and a stubbornly high inflation. There is no room for complacency. The government should not lose its patience so soon. The patient has just come out of the intensive-care unit and shifted to the general ward. Don't force the patient to run now. The government should continue to pursue tight fiscal and monetary policies for one more year. The idea is to consolidate the gains made in the current fiscal year. There will be plenty of resources available to the government for spending in the remaining three budgets. If the government loses patience and undertakes an expansionary fiscal policy the chances of having resources available in the remaining three budgets will be slim. This is the choice the government will have to make in the forthcoming budget.
The writer is dean and professor at the NUST Business School, Islamabad.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
In Napoleon's footsteps
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Roedad Khan
History has dealt the Islamic world a terrible hand. From the 13th century onward, the defining moments in the world of Islam were the Mongol invasions and the imperialist intrusion of the west and the advent of colonial dependency. It is significant how little the western approach to the Muslim world has changed during this period. The modus operandi is the same. Praise Islam as the religion of peace and love but carry war and destruction to weak and defenceless Muslim countries if they refuse to toe the line. Praise the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but unleash the hounds of war against his followers, bomb innocent men, women and children, occupy their lands, change their government by force of arms and replace it with client regimes.
The new president of the United States, Barack Obama, unites within himself American and African Muslim heritages. On the day that Obama became president-elect, his paternal grandmother, Habiba Akuma Obama held a cerebration in her village. In his Cairo speech, Obama vowed to bridge the rift with Muslims, imploring Americans and the Islamic world to drop their suspicions of one another and forge new alliances. His overture to the Islamic world reminds me of Napoleon Bonaparte. Before embarking on his Egyptian expedition, he presented himself to the Islamic world as its greatest champion and a great admirer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). On June 22, 1798, he set out to conquer Egypt, a country he described "as the first theatre of civilisation in the universe".
"Soldiers", Bonaparte proclaimed, "You are going to undertake a conquest, the effect of which, upon commerce and civilisation, will be incalculable. The eyes of mankind are fixed upon you. The Mameluke Beys, who tyrannise over the unhappy inhabitants of the banks of the Nile, will no longer exist in a few days after our arrival. The people among whom you are going to live, are Mahometans: the first article of their faith is, 'there is no other god but God and Mahomet is his Prophet. Do not contradict them. Treat their Muftis and their Imams with respect".
After establishing his headquarters at Alexandria, Bonaparte issued the following proclamation in Arabic:
"In the name of God, gracious and merciful. There is no god but God; he has no son nor associate in his kingdom. Inhabitants of Egypt! When the Beys tell you the French are come to destroy your religion, believe them not: it is an absolute falsehood. Answer these deceivers, that they are only come to rescue the rights of the poor from the hands of their tyrants, and that the French adore the Supreme Being, and honour the Prophet and his Holy Quran.
"All men are equal in the eyes of God: understanding, ingenuity, and science, alone make a difference between them. As the Beys do not posses any of these qualities, they cannot be worthy to govern the country. Yet they are the only possessors of extensive tracts of lands, beautiful female slaves, excellent horses, and magnificent places! Have they, then, received an exclusive privilege from the Almighty? If so, let them produce it. But the Supreme Being, who is just and merciful towards all mankind, wills, that, in future, none of the inhabitants in Egypt shall be prevented from attaining to the first employments, and the highest honours. The administration, which shall be conducted by persons of intelligence, talents, and foresight, will be productive of happiness and security.
"The French are true Mussulmen! Not long since they marched to Rome, and overthrew the throne of the Pope who excited the Christians against the professors of the Mahometan religion. Our friendship shall be extended to those of the inhabitants of Egypt who shall join us, as also to those who shall remain in their dwellings, and observe a strict neutrality; and, when they have seen our conduct with their own eyes, hasten to submit to us; but the dreadful punishment of death awaits those who shall take up arms for the Beys, and against us: for them their shall be no deliverance, nor shall any trace of them remain".
Accompanied by his staff and the members of the National Institute, attended also by a powerful guard, and conducted by several Muftis and Imams, Bonaparte commenced the following interesting conversation with Suluman, Ibrahim, and Mahumed, the chief Muftis.
Buonaparte: "Glory to Allah! There is no other god but God, Mahomet is his Prophet, and I am his friend"!
Suluman: "The salutation of peace to the envoy of God! Salutation to thee, also, invincible warrior, favourite of Mahomet"!
Buonaparte: "Mufti, I thank thee: the divine Quran is the delight of my soul, and the object of my contemplation. I love the Prophet, and I hope, ere long, to see and honour his tomb in the Holy City; but my mission is first to exterminate the Mamelukes".
Ibrahim: "May the angels of victory sweep the dust from thy path, and cover thee with their wings! The Mameluke has merited death".
Buonaparte: "He has been smitten and delivered over to the black angels, Monkir and Quakir. God, on whom all things depend, has ordained that his dominions shall be destroyed".
Suluman: "He has extended the hand of rapine over the land, the harvest and the horses, of Egypt".
Buonaparte: "And over the most beautiful slaves, thrice holy Mufti! Allah has withered his hand: if Egypt be his portion, let him shew the lease which God has given him of it; but God is just and merciful to his people".
Ibrahim: "Oh! most valiant among the children of Issa! (Jesus Christ) Allah has caused thee to follow the exterminating angel to deliver his land of Egypt".
Buonaparte: "Has not Mahomet said, that every man who adores God, and performs good works whatever maybe his religion, shall be saved"?
Suluman, Muhamed, Ibrahim (inclining themselves): "He has said so".
Ibrahim: "Glory to Allah and his Prophet! Who have sent thee into the midst of us to rekindle the faith of the weak, and to open to the faithful the gates of the seventh heaven"?
Buonaparte: "You have spoken my wishes, most zealous Muftis! Be faithful to Allah, the sovereign ruler of the seven marvellous heavens, and to Mahomet, his vizir, who traversed all the celestial mansions in a single night. Be the friends of the Francs, and Allah, Mahomet, and Francs, will reward you".
Ibrahim: "May the Prophet himself cause thee to sit at his left-hand, on the day of the resurrection, after the third sound of the trumpet".
Buonaparte: "The hour of political resurrection has arrived for all who groan under oppression. Muftis, Imams, Mullahs, Dervises, and Kalenders! Instruct the people of Egypt, encourage them to join us in our labours, to complete the destruction of Beys and Mamelukes: favour the commerce of the Francs in your country and their endeavours to arrive at the ancient Land of Brama. Let them have storehouses in your ports".
Suluman (inclining himself): "Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the Mullahs. We place faith in thy words: we shall serve thy cause, and God hears us".
Buonaparte: "God is great, and his works are marvellous: the salutation of peace be upon you, Thrice Holy Muftis!"
The snake, it is said, covers its prey with saliva before devouring it. Before launching the attack on Afghanistan, President Bush visited the Islamic Centre in Washington DC and addressing the gathering quoted from the Holy Quran: "In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil. For that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule"!
Obama's speech was impressive, but he delivered it in a country where an aging dictator is passing power to his son, where the country is crumbling to dust because of repression and stagnation. So words are not enough. What is needed is action, not just fine rhetoric. The Islamic world would judge Obama not by his intentions, not by his words, but by his deeds.
The writer is a former federal secretary.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Roedad Khan
History has dealt the Islamic world a terrible hand. From the 13th century onward, the defining moments in the world of Islam were the Mongol invasions and the imperialist intrusion of the west and the advent of colonial dependency. It is significant how little the western approach to the Muslim world has changed during this period. The modus operandi is the same. Praise Islam as the religion of peace and love but carry war and destruction to weak and defenceless Muslim countries if they refuse to toe the line. Praise the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but unleash the hounds of war against his followers, bomb innocent men, women and children, occupy their lands, change their government by force of arms and replace it with client regimes.
The new president of the United States, Barack Obama, unites within himself American and African Muslim heritages. On the day that Obama became president-elect, his paternal grandmother, Habiba Akuma Obama held a cerebration in her village. In his Cairo speech, Obama vowed to bridge the rift with Muslims, imploring Americans and the Islamic world to drop their suspicions of one another and forge new alliances. His overture to the Islamic world reminds me of Napoleon Bonaparte. Before embarking on his Egyptian expedition, he presented himself to the Islamic world as its greatest champion and a great admirer of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). On June 22, 1798, he set out to conquer Egypt, a country he described "as the first theatre of civilisation in the universe".
"Soldiers", Bonaparte proclaimed, "You are going to undertake a conquest, the effect of which, upon commerce and civilisation, will be incalculable. The eyes of mankind are fixed upon you. The Mameluke Beys, who tyrannise over the unhappy inhabitants of the banks of the Nile, will no longer exist in a few days after our arrival. The people among whom you are going to live, are Mahometans: the first article of their faith is, 'there is no other god but God and Mahomet is his Prophet. Do not contradict them. Treat their Muftis and their Imams with respect".
After establishing his headquarters at Alexandria, Bonaparte issued the following proclamation in Arabic:
"In the name of God, gracious and merciful. There is no god but God; he has no son nor associate in his kingdom. Inhabitants of Egypt! When the Beys tell you the French are come to destroy your religion, believe them not: it is an absolute falsehood. Answer these deceivers, that they are only come to rescue the rights of the poor from the hands of their tyrants, and that the French adore the Supreme Being, and honour the Prophet and his Holy Quran.
"All men are equal in the eyes of God: understanding, ingenuity, and science, alone make a difference between them. As the Beys do not posses any of these qualities, they cannot be worthy to govern the country. Yet they are the only possessors of extensive tracts of lands, beautiful female slaves, excellent horses, and magnificent places! Have they, then, received an exclusive privilege from the Almighty? If so, let them produce it. But the Supreme Being, who is just and merciful towards all mankind, wills, that, in future, none of the inhabitants in Egypt shall be prevented from attaining to the first employments, and the highest honours. The administration, which shall be conducted by persons of intelligence, talents, and foresight, will be productive of happiness and security.
"The French are true Mussulmen! Not long since they marched to Rome, and overthrew the throne of the Pope who excited the Christians against the professors of the Mahometan religion. Our friendship shall be extended to those of the inhabitants of Egypt who shall join us, as also to those who shall remain in their dwellings, and observe a strict neutrality; and, when they have seen our conduct with their own eyes, hasten to submit to us; but the dreadful punishment of death awaits those who shall take up arms for the Beys, and against us: for them their shall be no deliverance, nor shall any trace of them remain".
Accompanied by his staff and the members of the National Institute, attended also by a powerful guard, and conducted by several Muftis and Imams, Bonaparte commenced the following interesting conversation with Suluman, Ibrahim, and Mahumed, the chief Muftis.
Buonaparte: "Glory to Allah! There is no other god but God, Mahomet is his Prophet, and I am his friend"!
Suluman: "The salutation of peace to the envoy of God! Salutation to thee, also, invincible warrior, favourite of Mahomet"!
Buonaparte: "Mufti, I thank thee: the divine Quran is the delight of my soul, and the object of my contemplation. I love the Prophet, and I hope, ere long, to see and honour his tomb in the Holy City; but my mission is first to exterminate the Mamelukes".
Ibrahim: "May the angels of victory sweep the dust from thy path, and cover thee with their wings! The Mameluke has merited death".
Buonaparte: "He has been smitten and delivered over to the black angels, Monkir and Quakir. God, on whom all things depend, has ordained that his dominions shall be destroyed".
Suluman: "He has extended the hand of rapine over the land, the harvest and the horses, of Egypt".
Buonaparte: "And over the most beautiful slaves, thrice holy Mufti! Allah has withered his hand: if Egypt be his portion, let him shew the lease which God has given him of it; but God is just and merciful to his people".
Ibrahim: "Oh! most valiant among the children of Issa! (Jesus Christ) Allah has caused thee to follow the exterminating angel to deliver his land of Egypt".
Buonaparte: "Has not Mahomet said, that every man who adores God, and performs good works whatever maybe his religion, shall be saved"?
Suluman, Muhamed, Ibrahim (inclining themselves): "He has said so".
Ibrahim: "Glory to Allah and his Prophet! Who have sent thee into the midst of us to rekindle the faith of the weak, and to open to the faithful the gates of the seventh heaven"?
Buonaparte: "You have spoken my wishes, most zealous Muftis! Be faithful to Allah, the sovereign ruler of the seven marvellous heavens, and to Mahomet, his vizir, who traversed all the celestial mansions in a single night. Be the friends of the Francs, and Allah, Mahomet, and Francs, will reward you".
Ibrahim: "May the Prophet himself cause thee to sit at his left-hand, on the day of the resurrection, after the third sound of the trumpet".
Buonaparte: "The hour of political resurrection has arrived for all who groan under oppression. Muftis, Imams, Mullahs, Dervises, and Kalenders! Instruct the people of Egypt, encourage them to join us in our labours, to complete the destruction of Beys and Mamelukes: favour the commerce of the Francs in your country and their endeavours to arrive at the ancient Land of Brama. Let them have storehouses in your ports".
Suluman (inclining himself): "Thou hast spoken like the most learned of the Mullahs. We place faith in thy words: we shall serve thy cause, and God hears us".
Buonaparte: "God is great, and his works are marvellous: the salutation of peace be upon you, Thrice Holy Muftis!"
The snake, it is said, covers its prey with saliva before devouring it. Before launching the attack on Afghanistan, President Bush visited the Islamic Centre in Washington DC and addressing the gathering quoted from the Holy Quran: "In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil. For that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule"!
Obama's speech was impressive, but he delivered it in a country where an aging dictator is passing power to his son, where the country is crumbling to dust because of repression and stagnation. So words are not enough. What is needed is action, not just fine rhetoric. The Islamic world would judge Obama not by his intentions, not by his words, but by his deeds.
The writer is a former federal secretary.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Reasons for optimism
Legal eye
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Babar Sattar
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.
We've had a lot of bad news lately. There is a war raging within Pakistan, which is costing us valuable lives of soldiers, policemen and citizens alike. The insurgency and the counter-insurgency have engendered a humanitarian crisis that will only get aggravated as the military operation expands into FATA. The militants are retaliating, as expected, by mounting terror attacks across Pakistan. The economy is shrinking, we are told. The worsening security situation is anathema to foreign direct investment. And the managers of our economy seem to have no profound ideas on how to get us out of the woods. The fires of hate and resentment continue to rage across Balochistan. And now Karachi has begun to simmer once again. So Pakistan's predicament is serious no doubt. But must we be perpetually despondent? Are we going to try and scale over the precipice, or throw our hands up to ensure that prophesies of prophets of doom come true?
Without belittling the challenges that confront us, there is a need to take cognizance of the glimmers of hope within our state and society. Let us start with the successful civil society movement that led to the restoration of our legitimately appointed judges. This movement succeeded because Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and other deposed judges remained steadfast, the lawyers led by men of integrity and ability (especially Aitzaz Ahsan and Munir A Malik) remained resolute, the members of the civil society remained dauntless, the media emphatically supported the cause of justice, and Nawaz Sharif led his party unhesitatingly to march for the restoration of judges. But all of this only happened because a majority of the average citizens of this country rallied behind the idea that what we need most of all in this country is justice to be delivered fairly to each citizen irrespective of his station in the society, by a judiciary that is independent of the executive and faithfully defends the values and principles enshrined in our Constitution.
The success of the justice movement is an epochal event that has the potential of reordering the legal, political and social ethos of Pakistan. The idea that every citizen owes allegiance to the letter and spirit of the Constitution under all circumstances and is afforded in return the rights and liberties promised by our fundamental law, if entrenched and implemented effectively, promises to transform our state and society. What the Constitution promises to citizens is equality and fairness. The justice movement communicated to the masses that such promise would remain unrealized if the executive had the judiciary in its clutches. The idea resonated with ordinary people who stood up with a desire to reconstitute the judicial branch of the government as a neutral arbiter of the law strong enough to establish a level-playing field between citizens who were otherwise unequal in social and economic terms. The popularity of the movement encouraged political parties to endorse and support its goals. And PML-N has undoubtedly gained politically due to its foresight to stand on the right side of history.
The support for the movement sprouted from mass disenchantment with a judicial and political system bereft of higher moral and ethical values. And its success established a new precedent that when enough ordinary people unite and rise up in pursuit of a higher moral cause, they can make miracles happen. The restitution of legitimate judges has laid a strong foundation for reconstruction of a justice system that is braced by undisputed constitutional principles and moral values. The challenge of building an edifice that crystallizes the hopes and dreams of the ordinary people that brought about this miracle is now before us. And that the Supreme Court as well as the wider legal fraternity is aware of this challenge is a reason for optimism.
The new judicial policy effective since June has declared 2009 as the year for justice at the grassroots level and vows to (i) dispose a majority of the pending cases within one year, and (ii) eliminate corruption from the judicial branch of the state. The first policy-making initiative of the reconstituted judiciary has elected to concentrate on district courts the interface between ordinary citizens and the system of justice. The two-pronged approach to reform focuses on the integrity and efficiency of the justice system: the policy warns that there will be zero-tolerance for the menace of corruption, and courts have been instructed to dispose of cases within strict time-lines.
The courts will need to remain mindful that a system that diminishes the right of parties to be patiently heard by a court might lead to speedy disposal of cases but will hardly be judicious and thus the imperative of balancing the requirements of efficiency and fairness. Likewise, the superior courts will also need to put in place a monitoring system to ensure that the targets set by the judicial policy are actually met and the eagerness and sense of urgency to introduce genuine reform doesn't wane overtime as usually happens. Much needs to be done in the justice sector to rise up to people's expectations. While the proof of the pudding is in the eating the broad focus of the reconstituted Supreme Court seems to be on the dot, which is cause for optimism.
Another cause of celebration is that last week Justice Jawad Khawaja was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Khawaja had resigned as judge of the Lahore High Court after General Musharraf suspended and maltreated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary on March 9, 2007. He has the distinction of probably being the only holder of a constitutional position who quit office and its pomp (with many years of service remaining) to abide by the voice of his conscience and underline the need for members of the judiciary to stand up and protect the independence of their institution. By resigning his tenure at a time when his personal position was not at stake, he set a high moral tone for the rule of law movement during its very nascent phase and entrenched the public expectation that conduct of judges must be driven by principle and not personal ambition. Appointment of Justice Khawaja to the reconstituted Supreme Court will raise its moral authority and help establish a much required institutional norm of rewarding judicial officers most of all for their integrity and independence.
Reasons for optimism are not limited to initiation of reform in the justice sector alone. The moral and ethical values that fuelled the rule of law movement are also beginning to inform our political culture. Sherry Rehman caused a dent in our prevailing political culture of unscrupulous subservience with her resignation from the cabinet to protest the PPP government's heavy-handed policy of attempting to muffle the media during the decisive phase of the rule of law movement. The PML-N's decision to seek the resignation of its MNA, Haji Pervez Khan, over the examination scandal (where his nephew was caught taking an intermediate exam on his behalf) was a repudiation of our culture of partiality, nepotism and cronyism where personal loyalty and contacts trump principles and accountability (as evidenced by the Farah Dogar case). Likewise the insistence of Customs officials at the Lahore airport to check the luggage of passengers being escorted by the Punjab prison minister Chaudhary Abdul Ghafoor was commendable and so was the initiative of the Punjab government to hold an inquiry into the matter. Such examples will nurture a culture of accountability and reinforce the need for personal integrity within our political culture.
While we are some distance away from fixing our civil-military imbalance and enforcing the principle of effective civilian control of the military, as laid down in the Constitution, the willingness of our current military leadership to act on the instruction of the elected civilian government as well as its demeanour while doing so is promising. The courage being demonstrated by our soldiers in fighting throat-slitting terror-mongers, the resolve and valour of our policemen in carrying out security duties in such perilous times, and the abundant altruism being exhibited by citizens in helping out the IDPs are all grounds for optimism. And the foremost reason for hope is that there seems to be evolving a consensus across Pakistan that we will not put up with religious obscurantism any longer.
We need to develop further a spirit of political activism coupled with the audacious belief in our ability to determine our own fate, which paid huge dividends during the rule of law movement. And we must also engender a culture of accountability where we celebrate and reward actions and not personalities (so we can criticize the chief justice for his decision to meet Richard Holbrook, or Nawaz Sharif for not sharing with the nation the whole truth regarding his exile and presidential pardon, while not belittling their enormous contribution to the rule of law movement). There is a lot more that we need to do to realize our true potential as an industrious people. But despite all challenges confronting us and the contradictions and confusions that mar this polity, we are certainly not a nation teetering at the brink of destruction.
Legal eye
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Babar Sattar
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.
We've had a lot of bad news lately. There is a war raging within Pakistan, which is costing us valuable lives of soldiers, policemen and citizens alike. The insurgency and the counter-insurgency have engendered a humanitarian crisis that will only get aggravated as the military operation expands into FATA. The militants are retaliating, as expected, by mounting terror attacks across Pakistan. The economy is shrinking, we are told. The worsening security situation is anathema to foreign direct investment. And the managers of our economy seem to have no profound ideas on how to get us out of the woods. The fires of hate and resentment continue to rage across Balochistan. And now Karachi has begun to simmer once again. So Pakistan's predicament is serious no doubt. But must we be perpetually despondent? Are we going to try and scale over the precipice, or throw our hands up to ensure that prophesies of prophets of doom come true?
Without belittling the challenges that confront us, there is a need to take cognizance of the glimmers of hope within our state and society. Let us start with the successful civil society movement that led to the restoration of our legitimately appointed judges. This movement succeeded because Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary and other deposed judges remained steadfast, the lawyers led by men of integrity and ability (especially Aitzaz Ahsan and Munir A Malik) remained resolute, the members of the civil society remained dauntless, the media emphatically supported the cause of justice, and Nawaz Sharif led his party unhesitatingly to march for the restoration of judges. But all of this only happened because a majority of the average citizens of this country rallied behind the idea that what we need most of all in this country is justice to be delivered fairly to each citizen irrespective of his station in the society, by a judiciary that is independent of the executive and faithfully defends the values and principles enshrined in our Constitution.
The success of the justice movement is an epochal event that has the potential of reordering the legal, political and social ethos of Pakistan. The idea that every citizen owes allegiance to the letter and spirit of the Constitution under all circumstances and is afforded in return the rights and liberties promised by our fundamental law, if entrenched and implemented effectively, promises to transform our state and society. What the Constitution promises to citizens is equality and fairness. The justice movement communicated to the masses that such promise would remain unrealized if the executive had the judiciary in its clutches. The idea resonated with ordinary people who stood up with a desire to reconstitute the judicial branch of the government as a neutral arbiter of the law strong enough to establish a level-playing field between citizens who were otherwise unequal in social and economic terms. The popularity of the movement encouraged political parties to endorse and support its goals. And PML-N has undoubtedly gained politically due to its foresight to stand on the right side of history.
The support for the movement sprouted from mass disenchantment with a judicial and political system bereft of higher moral and ethical values. And its success established a new precedent that when enough ordinary people unite and rise up in pursuit of a higher moral cause, they can make miracles happen. The restitution of legitimate judges has laid a strong foundation for reconstruction of a justice system that is braced by undisputed constitutional principles and moral values. The challenge of building an edifice that crystallizes the hopes and dreams of the ordinary people that brought about this miracle is now before us. And that the Supreme Court as well as the wider legal fraternity is aware of this challenge is a reason for optimism.
The new judicial policy effective since June has declared 2009 as the year for justice at the grassroots level and vows to (i) dispose a majority of the pending cases within one year, and (ii) eliminate corruption from the judicial branch of the state. The first policy-making initiative of the reconstituted judiciary has elected to concentrate on district courts the interface between ordinary citizens and the system of justice. The two-pronged approach to reform focuses on the integrity and efficiency of the justice system: the policy warns that there will be zero-tolerance for the menace of corruption, and courts have been instructed to dispose of cases within strict time-lines.
The courts will need to remain mindful that a system that diminishes the right of parties to be patiently heard by a court might lead to speedy disposal of cases but will hardly be judicious and thus the imperative of balancing the requirements of efficiency and fairness. Likewise, the superior courts will also need to put in place a monitoring system to ensure that the targets set by the judicial policy are actually met and the eagerness and sense of urgency to introduce genuine reform doesn't wane overtime as usually happens. Much needs to be done in the justice sector to rise up to people's expectations. While the proof of the pudding is in the eating the broad focus of the reconstituted Supreme Court seems to be on the dot, which is cause for optimism.
Another cause of celebration is that last week Justice Jawad Khawaja was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court. Justice Khawaja had resigned as judge of the Lahore High Court after General Musharraf suspended and maltreated Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary on March 9, 2007. He has the distinction of probably being the only holder of a constitutional position who quit office and its pomp (with many years of service remaining) to abide by the voice of his conscience and underline the need for members of the judiciary to stand up and protect the independence of their institution. By resigning his tenure at a time when his personal position was not at stake, he set a high moral tone for the rule of law movement during its very nascent phase and entrenched the public expectation that conduct of judges must be driven by principle and not personal ambition. Appointment of Justice Khawaja to the reconstituted Supreme Court will raise its moral authority and help establish a much required institutional norm of rewarding judicial officers most of all for their integrity and independence.
Reasons for optimism are not limited to initiation of reform in the justice sector alone. The moral and ethical values that fuelled the rule of law movement are also beginning to inform our political culture. Sherry Rehman caused a dent in our prevailing political culture of unscrupulous subservience with her resignation from the cabinet to protest the PPP government's heavy-handed policy of attempting to muffle the media during the decisive phase of the rule of law movement. The PML-N's decision to seek the resignation of its MNA, Haji Pervez Khan, over the examination scandal (where his nephew was caught taking an intermediate exam on his behalf) was a repudiation of our culture of partiality, nepotism and cronyism where personal loyalty and contacts trump principles and accountability (as evidenced by the Farah Dogar case). Likewise the insistence of Customs officials at the Lahore airport to check the luggage of passengers being escorted by the Punjab prison minister Chaudhary Abdul Ghafoor was commendable and so was the initiative of the Punjab government to hold an inquiry into the matter. Such examples will nurture a culture of accountability and reinforce the need for personal integrity within our political culture.
While we are some distance away from fixing our civil-military imbalance and enforcing the principle of effective civilian control of the military, as laid down in the Constitution, the willingness of our current military leadership to act on the instruction of the elected civilian government as well as its demeanour while doing so is promising. The courage being demonstrated by our soldiers in fighting throat-slitting terror-mongers, the resolve and valour of our policemen in carrying out security duties in such perilous times, and the abundant altruism being exhibited by citizens in helping out the IDPs are all grounds for optimism. And the foremost reason for hope is that there seems to be evolving a consensus across Pakistan that we will not put up with religious obscurantism any longer.
We need to develop further a spirit of political activism coupled with the audacious belief in our ability to determine our own fate, which paid huge dividends during the rule of law movement. And we must also engender a culture of accountability where we celebrate and reward actions and not personalities (so we can criticize the chief justice for his decision to meet Richard Holbrook, or Nawaz Sharif for not sharing with the nation the whole truth regarding his exile and presidential pardon, while not belittling their enormous contribution to the rule of law movement). There is a lot more that we need to do to realize our true potential as an industrious people. But despite all challenges confronting us and the contradictions and confusions that mar this polity, we are certainly not a nation teetering at the brink of destruction.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Children and war
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Talat Farooq
Of the three to four million internally displaced persons nearly 80 percent are women and children. It is the children who are more likely to carry deep scars. Their physical ailments in the camps are easier to detect and treat; the emotional impact that will not manifest itself immediately and is bound to have far-reaching, perhaps lifelong, consequences. Many would grow up to be unhappy and maladjusted members of the society, unable to cope with life and its various challenges.
As the government and humanitarian workers struggle to keep pace with the speed and scale of the ongoing displacement, the physical needs of the IDPs are paramount, and understandably so. However, it is imperative that their psychological well-being be given equal consideration. The problem of emotionally disturbed children, which include numerous orphans and separated children, must be tackled with urgency.
Since 9/11, Pakistani children and adolescents have in general been exposed to direct or indirect violence. Aggression generated by TV and video games has been replaced with exposure to large-scale, real-life acts of barbarism. However, as inhabitants of the conflict zones, the children from Swat and FATA are the most affected. According to one estimate, as many as 60 to 70 percent of children in the camps are traumatised. This number obviously does not include youngsters living in host communities. For many this trauma is not the outcome of displacement alone but is symptomatic of their terrifying experiences in their hometowns and villages under Taliban control. The worst aspect of this is that it can lead to a desire to emulate the aggressor. This aspect has to be addressed if there is to be an end to the cycle of senseless brutality that has overtaken our society.
Watching brutal acts can desensitise younger minds to aggression. It can decrease their sympathy towards victims and increase the possibility that they will copy aggressive acts and adopt violence as a mode of conflict resolution. Children observing antagonism toward the weaker members of the society internalise it as a socially acceptable norm. The display of dead bodies and lashings in public, the burning of schools and the availability of video films by the Taliban in Swat and FATA featuring unspeakable brutalities, have sent powerful signals to immature minds. Youngsters are unable to form independent moral judgments since their critical reasoning abilities have not yet developed. Terrorist organisations all over the world, including Pakistan, recruit child soldiers for precisely this reason. Psychologists say that frustration induced by poverty or injustice is more easily translated into brutality if the environment is conducive to violence. An enraged person, for instance, is more likely to become violent if weapons are within reach.
The process of violence-breeds-violence-cycle churns out anti-social elements that can be easily manipulated into formal recruitment and training. Minors and adolescents among the IDPs are at a critical period of their development and under the prevailing circumstances they are in need of not only material but also emotional support. Positive and healthy activities can prove to be therapeutic as a short-term tactic in this regard. It is heartening to note that certain NGOs and the NWFP government are already realising the importance of providing some form of healthy diversions such as sports and entertainment along with counselling sessions by trained staff. They are also planning to set up makeshift schools in the IDPs camps to keep the young minds gainfully engaged. These measures should be extended to all camps. Despite such efforts, however, a lot more needs to be accomplished by different segments of the society. Psychologists and the psychiatrists, in particular, must rise to the occasion and design short- and long-term strategies to cater to the unique requirements of these children. The long-term strategy should ensure continued interaction with these youngsters even after they have returned to their homes.
Besides the immediate issue of the displaced children the entire younger generation of Pakistan needs our attention to help them cope with the unsafe environment in which they have to live and interact. Non-violence is also a learnt behaviour and research shows that constructive intervention by adults to impress upon young minds that violence is an unacceptable means of settling disputes minimises the adverse effects. In this regard the electronic media can play a constructive role. It can introduce regular programmes based on teaching of easy -to-understand violence-prevention skills, including anger-management and peaceful conflict-resolution, for both children and adults. The study of the negative impact of violence should be included in school, college and university curricula to bring about fundamental attitudinal changes, and parents and teachers should be encouraged to hold discussions with youngsters to help curb the trend. A joint public-private venture to launch community-based awareness programmes for all members, including parents, clerics, students and teachers, could also be initiated. Funds for the project may be generated by the government, NGOs, welfare organisations and the business community. We adults must become proactive and take personal responsibility. After all, it is the future of our children that hangs in the balance.
The writer is executive editor of Criterion.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Talat Farooq
Of the three to four million internally displaced persons nearly 80 percent are women and children. It is the children who are more likely to carry deep scars. Their physical ailments in the camps are easier to detect and treat; the emotional impact that will not manifest itself immediately and is bound to have far-reaching, perhaps lifelong, consequences. Many would grow up to be unhappy and maladjusted members of the society, unable to cope with life and its various challenges.
As the government and humanitarian workers struggle to keep pace with the speed and scale of the ongoing displacement, the physical needs of the IDPs are paramount, and understandably so. However, it is imperative that their psychological well-being be given equal consideration. The problem of emotionally disturbed children, which include numerous orphans and separated children, must be tackled with urgency.
Since 9/11, Pakistani children and adolescents have in general been exposed to direct or indirect violence. Aggression generated by TV and video games has been replaced with exposure to large-scale, real-life acts of barbarism. However, as inhabitants of the conflict zones, the children from Swat and FATA are the most affected. According to one estimate, as many as 60 to 70 percent of children in the camps are traumatised. This number obviously does not include youngsters living in host communities. For many this trauma is not the outcome of displacement alone but is symptomatic of their terrifying experiences in their hometowns and villages under Taliban control. The worst aspect of this is that it can lead to a desire to emulate the aggressor. This aspect has to be addressed if there is to be an end to the cycle of senseless brutality that has overtaken our society.
Watching brutal acts can desensitise younger minds to aggression. It can decrease their sympathy towards victims and increase the possibility that they will copy aggressive acts and adopt violence as a mode of conflict resolution. Children observing antagonism toward the weaker members of the society internalise it as a socially acceptable norm. The display of dead bodies and lashings in public, the burning of schools and the availability of video films by the Taliban in Swat and FATA featuring unspeakable brutalities, have sent powerful signals to immature minds. Youngsters are unable to form independent moral judgments since their critical reasoning abilities have not yet developed. Terrorist organisations all over the world, including Pakistan, recruit child soldiers for precisely this reason. Psychologists say that frustration induced by poverty or injustice is more easily translated into brutality if the environment is conducive to violence. An enraged person, for instance, is more likely to become violent if weapons are within reach.
The process of violence-breeds-violence-cycle churns out anti-social elements that can be easily manipulated into formal recruitment and training. Minors and adolescents among the IDPs are at a critical period of their development and under the prevailing circumstances they are in need of not only material but also emotional support. Positive and healthy activities can prove to be therapeutic as a short-term tactic in this regard. It is heartening to note that certain NGOs and the NWFP government are already realising the importance of providing some form of healthy diversions such as sports and entertainment along with counselling sessions by trained staff. They are also planning to set up makeshift schools in the IDPs camps to keep the young minds gainfully engaged. These measures should be extended to all camps. Despite such efforts, however, a lot more needs to be accomplished by different segments of the society. Psychologists and the psychiatrists, in particular, must rise to the occasion and design short- and long-term strategies to cater to the unique requirements of these children. The long-term strategy should ensure continued interaction with these youngsters even after they have returned to their homes.
Besides the immediate issue of the displaced children the entire younger generation of Pakistan needs our attention to help them cope with the unsafe environment in which they have to live and interact. Non-violence is also a learnt behaviour and research shows that constructive intervention by adults to impress upon young minds that violence is an unacceptable means of settling disputes minimises the adverse effects. In this regard the electronic media can play a constructive role. It can introduce regular programmes based on teaching of easy -to-understand violence-prevention skills, including anger-management and peaceful conflict-resolution, for both children and adults. The study of the negative impact of violence should be included in school, college and university curricula to bring about fundamental attitudinal changes, and parents and teachers should be encouraged to hold discussions with youngsters to help curb the trend. A joint public-private venture to launch community-based awareness programmes for all members, including parents, clerics, students and teachers, could also be initiated. Funds for the project may be generated by the government, NGOs, welfare organisations and the business community. We adults must become proactive and take personal responsibility. After all, it is the future of our children that hangs in the balance.
The writer is executive editor of Criterion.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Appraising the operation
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Zeenia Satti
In counterinsurgency, foresight and well organised administration is worth more than specious shortcuts to victory in frontal assaults. Every major human exodus in recent South Asian history has been typically managed by the military force in the affected area. While the 1947 partition exodus, the 1970 East Pakistani exodus, the 1980s Afghan exodus as a result of the Soviet invasion were all managed with the help of respective military forces in the affected areas, General Kayani has failed at fielding well organised relief brigades for the IDPs. While "clearing" the territory of insurgents, he has raked up a massive expenditure of state scarce resources for the displaced humanity, and has thereby created an explosive economic, social and political situation equal in proportion to the Taliban threat. If generalship is judged on the management of risks, this is a poor show.
It seems both the military and the civilian leaders are competing with each other to magnify their demands and publicise the obstacles they must surmount to get the international community to commit resources. The absurdly optimistic risks taken for the purpose could extract their deadly payment.
The battlefield reveals a similar paucity of vision. The extreme inefficiency of the intelligence system was manifest when a head bounty on all the main Taliban commanders was announced well into the battle! Those of us who have studied low-level violence as an academic discipline know that "panicked flights" of enemy combatants do not ensure victory when dealing with one's own citizens. In guerrilla warfare what delivers is deception and long-range penetration, not grandiose extravaganza into enemy held territory. The attack with maximum chance of success is often surreptitious.
The Swat operation should have been used as a deceptive front while FATA, the most likely refuge of fleeing enemy commanders, should have been the main target of a covertly planned parallel operation. Closer to the GHQ, Swat should have served as the noisy but dummy corps headquarter, set up to mislead the enemy, as the FATA operation proceeds amidst communications silence. Some of us initially took Swat's dramatic frontal assault to be a tactical ruse when President Zardari, to our dismay, publicly announced the intention to launch an operation in Waziristan! The forewarned and at-large Taliban commanders now seem to be planning and administering their immediate and long-term counter assaults as terror strikes all over the country and military operation inside the NWFP and, possibly, beyond.
If the Taliban are planning to launch an attack at the end of summer, monsoon and floods, misery and disease will serve as their allies in the IDP camps. Unbridled deprivation, slow reconstruction and hunger will reinforce their ranks inside the war-ravaged areas. By the beginning of 2010, the Pakistani forces could be fighting a new enemy.
A valid question regarding the operation's timing and its magnitude arises. Since 2005, the Pakistani army's operation against the Taliban has been lily livered, devoid of an offensive spirit. What accounts for the massive frontal assaults all of a sudden? Given the US troop surge and the verbal joining of the theatre as "AfPak," could the fear of a NATO invasion have prompted operation Rah-e-Rast? Paradoxically, if the operation goes awry, it could directly lead to NATO involvement.
Kayani's strategic vision of overwhelming aerial power has become anomalous, having been bypassed by a number of new strategic realities in Iraq and Afghanistan. His seeming failure at heeding the new strategic environment of late 2000s, which has changed significantly from that of only four years earlier, could lead the Pakistani army to stumble into the trap dug by reliance on the single idea of use of overwhelming firepower and the state's subsequent entanglement in the difficulties of managing a war-ravaged population on limited resources.
If an Afghanistan-like quagmire is allowed to develop inside Pakistan, its military's stock as an efficient fighting force and a reliable custodian of nuclear arsenal will be lowered. The rising apprehension in regional capitals and the international community (i.e., General Petraeus and General McCrystal) could lead to the restructuring of the command responsibilities in the region to ensure speedier victory over the Taliban. A multilateral command, separate from Rawalpindi, would then rise. The responsibilities of the Pakistan-based command would then be reduced to creating a base for allied operations. General Kayani will be replaced by a supreme allied commander.
Should Operation Rah-e-Rast go awry, it will not be strategic divergence but "logistical necessity" that will dictate the events described above. The strategic objectives of India, US, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the same. Each views northern Pakistan as the crucial lifeline in its efforts to sustain the Central Asian energy corridor. The area can neither be isolated nor bypassed. The stabilisation of this area "free of ideological battles" is crucial to the opening of land communication from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the Indian Ocean. If the NWFP is stabilised, the existing physical infrastructure could be enhanced at a fraction of the cost required to build from scratch. With the American economy in trouble, Washington would rather divert the resources required for building new infrastructure to equipping the largest possible combat force for destroying the "Taliban."
The writer is a freelance contributor based in Washington DC
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Zeenia Satti
In counterinsurgency, foresight and well organised administration is worth more than specious shortcuts to victory in frontal assaults. Every major human exodus in recent South Asian history has been typically managed by the military force in the affected area. While the 1947 partition exodus, the 1970 East Pakistani exodus, the 1980s Afghan exodus as a result of the Soviet invasion were all managed with the help of respective military forces in the affected areas, General Kayani has failed at fielding well organised relief brigades for the IDPs. While "clearing" the territory of insurgents, he has raked up a massive expenditure of state scarce resources for the displaced humanity, and has thereby created an explosive economic, social and political situation equal in proportion to the Taliban threat. If generalship is judged on the management of risks, this is a poor show.
It seems both the military and the civilian leaders are competing with each other to magnify their demands and publicise the obstacles they must surmount to get the international community to commit resources. The absurdly optimistic risks taken for the purpose could extract their deadly payment.
The battlefield reveals a similar paucity of vision. The extreme inefficiency of the intelligence system was manifest when a head bounty on all the main Taliban commanders was announced well into the battle! Those of us who have studied low-level violence as an academic discipline know that "panicked flights" of enemy combatants do not ensure victory when dealing with one's own citizens. In guerrilla warfare what delivers is deception and long-range penetration, not grandiose extravaganza into enemy held territory. The attack with maximum chance of success is often surreptitious.
The Swat operation should have been used as a deceptive front while FATA, the most likely refuge of fleeing enemy commanders, should have been the main target of a covertly planned parallel operation. Closer to the GHQ, Swat should have served as the noisy but dummy corps headquarter, set up to mislead the enemy, as the FATA operation proceeds amidst communications silence. Some of us initially took Swat's dramatic frontal assault to be a tactical ruse when President Zardari, to our dismay, publicly announced the intention to launch an operation in Waziristan! The forewarned and at-large Taliban commanders now seem to be planning and administering their immediate and long-term counter assaults as terror strikes all over the country and military operation inside the NWFP and, possibly, beyond.
If the Taliban are planning to launch an attack at the end of summer, monsoon and floods, misery and disease will serve as their allies in the IDP camps. Unbridled deprivation, slow reconstruction and hunger will reinforce their ranks inside the war-ravaged areas. By the beginning of 2010, the Pakistani forces could be fighting a new enemy.
A valid question regarding the operation's timing and its magnitude arises. Since 2005, the Pakistani army's operation against the Taliban has been lily livered, devoid of an offensive spirit. What accounts for the massive frontal assaults all of a sudden? Given the US troop surge and the verbal joining of the theatre as "AfPak," could the fear of a NATO invasion have prompted operation Rah-e-Rast? Paradoxically, if the operation goes awry, it could directly lead to NATO involvement.
Kayani's strategic vision of overwhelming aerial power has become anomalous, having been bypassed by a number of new strategic realities in Iraq and Afghanistan. His seeming failure at heeding the new strategic environment of late 2000s, which has changed significantly from that of only four years earlier, could lead the Pakistani army to stumble into the trap dug by reliance on the single idea of use of overwhelming firepower and the state's subsequent entanglement in the difficulties of managing a war-ravaged population on limited resources.
If an Afghanistan-like quagmire is allowed to develop inside Pakistan, its military's stock as an efficient fighting force and a reliable custodian of nuclear arsenal will be lowered. The rising apprehension in regional capitals and the international community (i.e., General Petraeus and General McCrystal) could lead to the restructuring of the command responsibilities in the region to ensure speedier victory over the Taliban. A multilateral command, separate from Rawalpindi, would then rise. The responsibilities of the Pakistan-based command would then be reduced to creating a base for allied operations. General Kayani will be replaced by a supreme allied commander.
Should Operation Rah-e-Rast go awry, it will not be strategic divergence but "logistical necessity" that will dictate the events described above. The strategic objectives of India, US, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the same. Each views northern Pakistan as the crucial lifeline in its efforts to sustain the Central Asian energy corridor. The area can neither be isolated nor bypassed. The stabilisation of this area "free of ideological battles" is crucial to the opening of land communication from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the Indian Ocean. If the NWFP is stabilised, the existing physical infrastructure could be enhanced at a fraction of the cost required to build from scratch. With the American economy in trouble, Washington would rather divert the resources required for building new infrastructure to equipping the largest possible combat force for destroying the "Taliban."
The writer is a freelance contributor based in Washington DC
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Taliban & Orakzai
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Asad Munir
Orakzai is the only tribal agency which does not border on Afghanistan. Before 1973, when it received the status of a tribal agency, it was under the administrative control of the deputy commissioner of Kohat as a Frontier Region. Out of the 18 sub-tribes of Orakzai, five are Shias, or one-tenth of its population. Historically the local tribal have accepted non-Orakzai settlers in the agency as hamsayas (neighbours), who have all rights and are considered Orakzais. Sikhs and Hindus are living in Orakzai for ages, and there are about 64 Sikh and 18 Hindu families there. The area witnessed Shia-Sunni riots, even in British times, but never a communal clash. In 1936 the British demarcated the Shia-Sunni area to minimise the chances of sectarian conflict. Shias were shifted to the southern portion of the Mastura River.
In 1999, a Taliban force was raised in the Agency by a Mamuzai tribal, Aslam Farooqi, who was affiliated with Sipah-e-Sahaba. This was the second tribal area, after North Waziristan, where such a force was raised. Inspiration for the raising of this kind of forces came from success of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The local Taliban remained active in the area until the end of 2001. In the aftermath of 9/11 the Taliban force dispersed and there were no more extremist activities in the Agency.
From 2004 to 2006, foreign militants have been taking refuge in upper Orakzai. The army operations in Waziristan forced them to leave that area. The foreign militants found a safe haven in Orakzai, where there was no presence of the Army and the Scouts, with local tribes providing them shelter. They were not involved in any activity in the area but hid here after conducting raids against Pakistani security forces or across the border. After formation of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) in 2007, a Taliban force was organised in Orakzai Agency. The Taliban started terrorising the tribal people and tried to impose their brand of Sharia on the locals. Prominent Maliks were kidnapped and released only on payment of ransom. Those who opposed them were brutally killed.
Taliban reinforcement came from Waziristan, Darra Adamkhel, the Afridi Tirah valley and other tribal areas. Hakeemullah Mahsud, a deputy of Baitullah Mahsud, was appointed as the Taliban commander of the area. Local leaders from Alikhel and Maozai tribes were appointed to lead the local Taliban. A group consisting of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashker-e-Jhangvi joined from Darra. A force of Lashkar-e-Islam, the Mangal Bagh group, also started operating in the Agency. A reign of terror was let loose against the Alikhel and Ferozkhel.
Targeted killings of Alikhel, Ferozkhel and Sunni Sturikhel started started. Prominent tribal elders were kidnapped, tortured and killed. Many disappeared. These acts of violence forced the tribals to accept Taliban rule in the Agency.
The Taliban of Swat miscalculated the state reaction for the first time. They entered Buner, Shangla and Dir so that they could be part of an administrative setup which was to be put in place as part of a Nizam-e-Adl deal. They wanted to control reconciliation committees at union council level. They never expected such a strong reaction from people and the media, which generally had a soft corner for the Taliban.
The tribals of Orakzai tried to adopt the most effective way of getting rid of the Taliban. They raised lashkars, but since this was not coordinated with the army action, it did not succeed. Orakzai is the only tribal agency where there is no presence of the Frontier Corps. The Levies/Khasadars are the only law enforcement force at the disposal of the political agent. This force is not trained and equipped to take on hardcore terrorists, and the air operation would not root out terrorist from the area.
The most effective way of dealing with Taliban is to persuade the local tribes rise against the terrorists. Dog Darra in Dir is a case in point. The local tribes have no love lost for the Taliban and their leaders. They will only rise once they are sure that the state is determined to eliminate these terrorists. The tribals should see on the ground that operations conducted are not terminated midway and are continued until the terrorists surrender.
The writer is a retired brigadier.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Asad Munir
Orakzai is the only tribal agency which does not border on Afghanistan. Before 1973, when it received the status of a tribal agency, it was under the administrative control of the deputy commissioner of Kohat as a Frontier Region. Out of the 18 sub-tribes of Orakzai, five are Shias, or one-tenth of its population. Historically the local tribal have accepted non-Orakzai settlers in the agency as hamsayas (neighbours), who have all rights and are considered Orakzais. Sikhs and Hindus are living in Orakzai for ages, and there are about 64 Sikh and 18 Hindu families there. The area witnessed Shia-Sunni riots, even in British times, but never a communal clash. In 1936 the British demarcated the Shia-Sunni area to minimise the chances of sectarian conflict. Shias were shifted to the southern portion of the Mastura River.
In 1999, a Taliban force was raised in the Agency by a Mamuzai tribal, Aslam Farooqi, who was affiliated with Sipah-e-Sahaba. This was the second tribal area, after North Waziristan, where such a force was raised. Inspiration for the raising of this kind of forces came from success of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The local Taliban remained active in the area until the end of 2001. In the aftermath of 9/11 the Taliban force dispersed and there were no more extremist activities in the Agency.
From 2004 to 2006, foreign militants have been taking refuge in upper Orakzai. The army operations in Waziristan forced them to leave that area. The foreign militants found a safe haven in Orakzai, where there was no presence of the Army and the Scouts, with local tribes providing them shelter. They were not involved in any activity in the area but hid here after conducting raids against Pakistani security forces or across the border. After formation of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TPP) in 2007, a Taliban force was organised in Orakzai Agency. The Taliban started terrorising the tribal people and tried to impose their brand of Sharia on the locals. Prominent Maliks were kidnapped and released only on payment of ransom. Those who opposed them were brutally killed.
Taliban reinforcement came from Waziristan, Darra Adamkhel, the Afridi Tirah valley and other tribal areas. Hakeemullah Mahsud, a deputy of Baitullah Mahsud, was appointed as the Taliban commander of the area. Local leaders from Alikhel and Maozai tribes were appointed to lead the local Taliban. A group consisting of Sipah-e-Sahaba and Lashker-e-Jhangvi joined from Darra. A force of Lashkar-e-Islam, the Mangal Bagh group, also started operating in the Agency. A reign of terror was let loose against the Alikhel and Ferozkhel.
Targeted killings of Alikhel, Ferozkhel and Sunni Sturikhel started started. Prominent tribal elders were kidnapped, tortured and killed. Many disappeared. These acts of violence forced the tribals to accept Taliban rule in the Agency.
The Taliban of Swat miscalculated the state reaction for the first time. They entered Buner, Shangla and Dir so that they could be part of an administrative setup which was to be put in place as part of a Nizam-e-Adl deal. They wanted to control reconciliation committees at union council level. They never expected such a strong reaction from people and the media, which generally had a soft corner for the Taliban.
The tribals of Orakzai tried to adopt the most effective way of getting rid of the Taliban. They raised lashkars, but since this was not coordinated with the army action, it did not succeed. Orakzai is the only tribal agency where there is no presence of the Frontier Corps. The Levies/Khasadars are the only law enforcement force at the disposal of the political agent. This force is not trained and equipped to take on hardcore terrorists, and the air operation would not root out terrorist from the area.
The most effective way of dealing with Taliban is to persuade the local tribes rise against the terrorists. Dog Darra in Dir is a case in point. The local tribes have no love lost for the Taliban and their leaders. They will only rise once they are sure that the state is determined to eliminate these terrorists. The tribals should see on the ground that operations conducted are not terminated midway and are continued until the terrorists surrender.
The writer is a retired brigadier.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Innocent until proven guilty?
By Irfan Husain
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009
WE shoot ourselves in the foot with predictable regularity. Take the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed from house arrest, for example.
Picked up in the crackdown on the Jamaatud Dawa, the Lashkar-e-Taibas successor, in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks last November, Saeed spent around six months in custody before being sprung recently by the Lahore High Court on grounds of insufficient evidence.
This is not the first time clerics accused of sundry crimes of violence have walked out of comfortable sojourns at home. Another leader of a jihadi outfit was arrested some seven years ago following attacks on the Srinagar assembly that killed 30. Days later, the assembly building in New Delhi was attacked, and again the Jaish-i-Mohammad was implicated.
After the usual dance of denial, Maulana Masood Azhar was arrested and, later, the Jaish was banned. Nevertheless, relations between India and Pakistan plunged, and the two countries came close to war. For months, their respective armies were eyeball to eyeball, and the world feared a nuclear exchange.
Even then, the maulana was no stranger to legal restrictions: he had been arrested by Indian authorities in Kashmir in 1994, and released in a deal to free hostages taken in an Indian Airlines plane hijacking in December 1999. Although Pakistan initially denied he had entered the country from Afghanistan after his release, Masood Azhar soon addressed a rally in Karachi where he said: I have come here because it is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India.
So given this background of violence and open threats, why are people like Saeed and Azhar still walking free? Many Indian readers have asked me in angry emails why the former was released after the carnage his organisation allegedly committed in Mumbai last November, according to intercepted phone calls and the confession of the sole survivor of the attack.
Why indeed? In England, where I am currently, many friends have asked me the same question. It is hard to convince anybody that had the state been serious, keeping Saeed in custody would have been impossible. While I am sure the prosecution case was flimsy, we all know that when the government wishes to, all kinds of legal gimmicks are deployed to retain individuals as guests of the state. Indeed, thousands of prisoners have been rotting in jails across Pakistan for years, still awaiting trial.
While browsing through Google for this article, I came across a piece (Paying for the past; Feb 2, 2002) I had written seven years ago. I normally never quote from my own articles, but apart from the neat symmetry of the date, I thought I had something relevant to say all those years ago:
Rich and powerful states and individuals often get away with their crimes, while the weak and the poor usually get caught and punished.
When we allowed [Maulana Masood Azhar] to move in after he was freed from an Indian jail in the aftermath of the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Afghanistan in the last days of 1999, surely somebody in authority knew we were violating international norms. But to compound this act, Maulana Azhar was allowed to raise the Jaish-i-Mohammad, a group that operated freely in Pakistan and in Kashmir.
Another embarrassment has been caused by the famous list handed over to our government by the Indians. Apart from those Pakistanis released from Indian prisons, there are 15 names of the Indians accused of extremely serious crimes in their own country. Despite official denial of any knowledge of their whereabouts, last year Newsline, a Karachi-based monthly, ran a cover story giving details of the comfortable exile several of these people were enjoying in Karachi under official protection. No denial was issued by the government at that time.
The problem with handing them over, of course, is that there is no telling what they might spill to the Indian authorities to save their own skins. The last thing General Musharraf would want at the height of a military stand-off is a series of shocking revelations or operational details about covert, illegal acts.
This, of course, is the dilemma of using criminals and terrorists to further the states agenda: they become an embarrassment or, worse, turn against their handlers. It has always struck me as ironic that people like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar use random violence against the innocent as a tool, while claiming the protection of the constitution when they are arrested. Thus, while people like them organise terror operations targeting ordinary citizens, when caught they demand their habeas corpus rights guaranteed under the constitution.
Many countries have tried to strike a balance between human rights and the protection of their citizens from terrorism. In Britain, an anti-terror law was enacted in 2005 under which suspects can be put under virtual house arrest, barred from going abroad, and using telephones and the Internet. These restrictions are imposed because there is insufficient hard evidence to try them, and yet there is a strong suspicion that they pose a threat.
Clearly, for the innocent such a state of legal limbo would be a nightmare. In Britain, several people have mounted a legal challenge against being held under this law. And certainly, it can be misused by overzealous officials who do not want to take the risk of letting potential terrorists run around free. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to gather hard evidence in cases of terrorism, especially against leaders of jihadi organisations who do not pull the trigger themselves. Their DNA is absent from the debris collected after suicide bombings, and it becomes difficult to convict them under existing laws.
The sad reality in Pakistan is that when the state wishes to hold an individual, nobody is beyond its reach. So when people like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Masood Azhar and Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid fame are released by our superior courts on grounds of insufficient evidence, we have the right to ask whats going on. Some of these people have publicly urged their misguided followers to commit violent acts, so to pretend they should get the benefit of the doubt is dangerous legal sophistry.
Finally, the army has taken off its gloves in the fight against extremism. And if new laws are required to combat this menace on the judicial level, parliament must do whatever it takes.
By Irfan Husain
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009
WE shoot ourselves in the foot with predictable regularity. Take the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed from house arrest, for example.
Picked up in the crackdown on the Jamaatud Dawa, the Lashkar-e-Taibas successor, in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks last November, Saeed spent around six months in custody before being sprung recently by the Lahore High Court on grounds of insufficient evidence.
This is not the first time clerics accused of sundry crimes of violence have walked out of comfortable sojourns at home. Another leader of a jihadi outfit was arrested some seven years ago following attacks on the Srinagar assembly that killed 30. Days later, the assembly building in New Delhi was attacked, and again the Jaish-i-Mohammad was implicated.
After the usual dance of denial, Maulana Masood Azhar was arrested and, later, the Jaish was banned. Nevertheless, relations between India and Pakistan plunged, and the two countries came close to war. For months, their respective armies were eyeball to eyeball, and the world feared a nuclear exchange.
Even then, the maulana was no stranger to legal restrictions: he had been arrested by Indian authorities in Kashmir in 1994, and released in a deal to free hostages taken in an Indian Airlines plane hijacking in December 1999. Although Pakistan initially denied he had entered the country from Afghanistan after his release, Masood Azhar soon addressed a rally in Karachi where he said: I have come here because it is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India.
So given this background of violence and open threats, why are people like Saeed and Azhar still walking free? Many Indian readers have asked me in angry emails why the former was released after the carnage his organisation allegedly committed in Mumbai last November, according to intercepted phone calls and the confession of the sole survivor of the attack.
Why indeed? In England, where I am currently, many friends have asked me the same question. It is hard to convince anybody that had the state been serious, keeping Saeed in custody would have been impossible. While I am sure the prosecution case was flimsy, we all know that when the government wishes to, all kinds of legal gimmicks are deployed to retain individuals as guests of the state. Indeed, thousands of prisoners have been rotting in jails across Pakistan for years, still awaiting trial.
While browsing through Google for this article, I came across a piece (Paying for the past; Feb 2, 2002) I had written seven years ago. I normally never quote from my own articles, but apart from the neat symmetry of the date, I thought I had something relevant to say all those years ago:
Rich and powerful states and individuals often get away with their crimes, while the weak and the poor usually get caught and punished.
When we allowed [Maulana Masood Azhar] to move in after he was freed from an Indian jail in the aftermath of the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Afghanistan in the last days of 1999, surely somebody in authority knew we were violating international norms. But to compound this act, Maulana Azhar was allowed to raise the Jaish-i-Mohammad, a group that operated freely in Pakistan and in Kashmir.
Another embarrassment has been caused by the famous list handed over to our government by the Indians. Apart from those Pakistanis released from Indian prisons, there are 15 names of the Indians accused of extremely serious crimes in their own country. Despite official denial of any knowledge of their whereabouts, last year Newsline, a Karachi-based monthly, ran a cover story giving details of the comfortable exile several of these people were enjoying in Karachi under official protection. No denial was issued by the government at that time.
The problem with handing them over, of course, is that there is no telling what they might spill to the Indian authorities to save their own skins. The last thing General Musharraf would want at the height of a military stand-off is a series of shocking revelations or operational details about covert, illegal acts.
This, of course, is the dilemma of using criminals and terrorists to further the states agenda: they become an embarrassment or, worse, turn against their handlers. It has always struck me as ironic that people like Hafiz Saeed and Masood Azhar use random violence against the innocent as a tool, while claiming the protection of the constitution when they are arrested. Thus, while people like them organise terror operations targeting ordinary citizens, when caught they demand their habeas corpus rights guaranteed under the constitution.
Many countries have tried to strike a balance between human rights and the protection of their citizens from terrorism. In Britain, an anti-terror law was enacted in 2005 under which suspects can be put under virtual house arrest, barred from going abroad, and using telephones and the Internet. These restrictions are imposed because there is insufficient hard evidence to try them, and yet there is a strong suspicion that they pose a threat.
Clearly, for the innocent such a state of legal limbo would be a nightmare. In Britain, several people have mounted a legal challenge against being held under this law. And certainly, it can be misused by overzealous officials who do not want to take the risk of letting potential terrorists run around free. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to gather hard evidence in cases of terrorism, especially against leaders of jihadi organisations who do not pull the trigger themselves. Their DNA is absent from the debris collected after suicide bombings, and it becomes difficult to convict them under existing laws.
The sad reality in Pakistan is that when the state wishes to hold an individual, nobody is beyond its reach. So when people like Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, Masood Azhar and Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid fame are released by our superior courts on grounds of insufficient evidence, we have the right to ask whats going on. Some of these people have publicly urged their misguided followers to commit violent acts, so to pretend they should get the benefit of the doubt is dangerous legal sophistry.
Finally, the army has taken off its gloves in the fight against extremism. And if new laws are required to combat this menace on the judicial level, parliament must do whatever it takes.
A
arshad_lahore
Guest
Why have they not eaten for nine days?
By Nosheen Abbas
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009
As you read this, a family of 13, including children are on hunger strike outside the National Press Club in F-6 Sector to protest against a false case of Karo-kari in which a former minister is involved. It portrays a sad picture of our society.
Former minister of fisheries Mir Manzoor Panhwar, sardar and head of the Panchayat (which makes Karo-kari decisions on daily basis) in Dharki Tehsil of Ghotki District, has declared a legally married couple as Karo-kari and demanded that either the couple and their one-year-old daughter be handed over to him for punishment either by sangsar (the victim is buried up to his/ her chest under the ground and then stoned to death by members of the community) or by throwing them before starving dogs (kept unfed for eight days). The other option is for the accused Muhammad Ishaqs brother Muhammad Essa to hand over his sister and daughter to the sardar as compensation. The sardar being a kind person is offering them to choose how they would like to be punished.
Why has this couple been accused of Karo-kari? Because as the sardar of the village was to give his approval for the marriage even before the couples parents. Going against his decision means inviting his wrath. When this reporter contacted the former minister through a rights activist and journalist, Shakir Solangi, he denied his involvement in the episode saying the elders of the tribe took the decision and that Mohammad Ishaqs family left Sindh at their own free will.
Muhammad Ishaq and Sobia were legally married in Sindh High Court Karachi. Sobias father had suggested this way out as the sardars rules were known to all. But as soon as Mr Panhwar found out about this development he sent his posse of 70 thugs including DPO Iqbal Dara, ASI Irshad Rajpar and Gul Muhammad Dandu to punish the village.
Muhammad Ishaqs family has been fighting for its security and justice now for two years. Shuffled and shoved between the Sindh High Court Sukkur bench and the Supreme Court, the family has landed at the National Press Club, Islamabad. Muhammad Essa, a dignified man speaks at first with confidence but is then reduced to tears as he narrates what his family has had to suffer at the hands of the sardar. Our houses were looted and my children were dragged out of our house. My two sons were in school, I paid Rs500 each month, one was in Islamia College and the other in Engro, they have both been out of school for two years now, they have even forgotten their alphabets now. All of us sat outside the Supreme Court, we were then shifted to Bari Imam while the sardar came and was comfortably lodged in the Sindh House. No one seems to care about us, he says with tears standing in his eyes. How can I give away my sister or daughter, he says pointing towards the girls in veil.
The entire family are sitting under a makeshift tent. They have not eaten for nine days and the children and women are in poor physical condition. Muhammad Essas wife is spitting blood and yet their deteriorating condition has not moved anyone in authority.
The sardar has registered an FIR against my brother for kidnapping of Sobia, says Muhammad Essa behind whom sits Sobia and Muhammad Ishaq.
Sobia takes off her naqab (veil) to talk about what exactly happened. Her husband displays their nikahnama (wedding contract) both in English and Urdu. The day we married in Karachi, Mir Manzoor sent his men to surround the court. The judge and police hid usbut now we cannot go back to our village, if we do, theyll just kill us, she said.
According to HRCP, 17 women alone were killed on the pretext of Karo-kari in Sindh in the first two months of the year. The cases of Karo-kari have doubled from 356 to 652 across the country most frequently in interior Sindh.
One year old Alishba plays in the lap of her mother, Sobia. The baby doesnt yet know the harsh reality of life that her parents are facing. What I wonder is, will we still be hoping for clean and sincere leaders by the time Alishba grows up, or will someone at the top wake up now and ask the family why are they on a hunger strike?
By Nosheen Abbas
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009
As you read this, a family of 13, including children are on hunger strike outside the National Press Club in F-6 Sector to protest against a false case of Karo-kari in which a former minister is involved. It portrays a sad picture of our society.
Former minister of fisheries Mir Manzoor Panhwar, sardar and head of the Panchayat (which makes Karo-kari decisions on daily basis) in Dharki Tehsil of Ghotki District, has declared a legally married couple as Karo-kari and demanded that either the couple and their one-year-old daughter be handed over to him for punishment either by sangsar (the victim is buried up to his/ her chest under the ground and then stoned to death by members of the community) or by throwing them before starving dogs (kept unfed for eight days). The other option is for the accused Muhammad Ishaqs brother Muhammad Essa to hand over his sister and daughter to the sardar as compensation. The sardar being a kind person is offering them to choose how they would like to be punished.
Why has this couple been accused of Karo-kari? Because as the sardar of the village was to give his approval for the marriage even before the couples parents. Going against his decision means inviting his wrath. When this reporter contacted the former minister through a rights activist and journalist, Shakir Solangi, he denied his involvement in the episode saying the elders of the tribe took the decision and that Mohammad Ishaqs family left Sindh at their own free will.
Muhammad Ishaq and Sobia were legally married in Sindh High Court Karachi. Sobias father had suggested this way out as the sardars rules were known to all. But as soon as Mr Panhwar found out about this development he sent his posse of 70 thugs including DPO Iqbal Dara, ASI Irshad Rajpar and Gul Muhammad Dandu to punish the village.
Muhammad Ishaqs family has been fighting for its security and justice now for two years. Shuffled and shoved between the Sindh High Court Sukkur bench and the Supreme Court, the family has landed at the National Press Club, Islamabad. Muhammad Essa, a dignified man speaks at first with confidence but is then reduced to tears as he narrates what his family has had to suffer at the hands of the sardar. Our houses were looted and my children were dragged out of our house. My two sons were in school, I paid Rs500 each month, one was in Islamia College and the other in Engro, they have both been out of school for two years now, they have even forgotten their alphabets now. All of us sat outside the Supreme Court, we were then shifted to Bari Imam while the sardar came and was comfortably lodged in the Sindh House. No one seems to care about us, he says with tears standing in his eyes. How can I give away my sister or daughter, he says pointing towards the girls in veil.
The entire family are sitting under a makeshift tent. They have not eaten for nine days and the children and women are in poor physical condition. Muhammad Essas wife is spitting blood and yet their deteriorating condition has not moved anyone in authority.
The sardar has registered an FIR against my brother for kidnapping of Sobia, says Muhammad Essa behind whom sits Sobia and Muhammad Ishaq.
Sobia takes off her naqab (veil) to talk about what exactly happened. Her husband displays their nikahnama (wedding contract) both in English and Urdu. The day we married in Karachi, Mir Manzoor sent his men to surround the court. The judge and police hid usbut now we cannot go back to our village, if we do, theyll just kill us, she said.
According to HRCP, 17 women alone were killed on the pretext of Karo-kari in Sindh in the first two months of the year. The cases of Karo-kari have doubled from 356 to 652 across the country most frequently in interior Sindh.
One year old Alishba plays in the lap of her mother, Sobia. The baby doesnt yet know the harsh reality of life that her parents are facing. What I wonder is, will we still be hoping for clean and sincere leaders by the time Alishba grows up, or will someone at the top wake up now and ask the family why are they on a hunger strike?
